This hand-sewn piece is made from 100% plastic trash including plastic lids, produce bags and thread from strips of plastic produce bags. My concept was that nature sprouts from a base of plastic waste–green stems and leaves open up to bright multicolored blossoms.

So why a recycled dress? Recycling is my passion. I can’t stand to put a nice colorful plastic lid in the garbage. I save all sorts of items too good to go in the trash. This year I found a good use for those lids I’ve been saving for years. I entered this piece in the ReStore Trash Fashion Show held in April 2011. The trash fashion show is a good way to see how all this trash can be used in new, beautiful, and artistic ways.

Tracy Peltier is a mom, wife, and architect. She finds creating art to be beneficial to healing from cancer. Visit her blog for her story.